The National Institute of Clean-and-Low-Carbon Energy Successfully Developed New-type Antitoxin Catalysts Based on Crystal Defects

Lately, the research team headed by the National Institute of Clean-and-Low-Carbon Energy (NICE) under CHN Energy made major progress in the study of new-type antitoxin catalysts with crystal defects. A paper on relevant research results was published in the world-renowned energy and environment protection journal EES Catalysis (Energy & Environmental Science-Catalysis).

Structure representation of the antitoxin defect-based denitration catalyst

The environmental catalysis research team at the Environmental Protection Technology Research Center of NICE used defect engineering technology to introduce anionic oxygen vacancy defects into commercial titanium dioxide and develop a new type of denitration catalyst without any active metallic components, and then conducted studies on relevant mechanisms. This was the first time that the research team developed commercial titanium dioxide-based denitration catalyst that contains anionic oxygen vacancy defects. They also confirmed that nitrogen-doped titanium hydroxide has high denitrification activity, selectivity, long-term stability in terms of water and sulfur resistance as well as excellent antitoxin performance.

The defect-based catalyst can achieve the same denitration efficiency and excellent anti-poisoning performance as the traditional catalyst without using any active metallic components. Thus, it is expected to essentially solve the toxication problem, which not only prolongs the service life, but also greatly reduces the cost, providing a new way for the design of antitoxin and low-cost catalysts.

Based on this, the research team of NICE has produced a series of defect-based catalysts and is expanding their application to realms such as volatile organic compounds catalytic oxidation, green ammonia synthesis, ammonia oxidation, and carbon dioxide electrocatalytic reduction.